


Mourning

by LesbianDragon_LD



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, idk whatelse to tag this as other than it's a bit sad because we're exploring feelings today, talking about feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:07:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22853707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LesbianDragon_LD/pseuds/LesbianDragon_LD
Summary: Byleth has conflicting feelings about her deceased mother. Edelgard sees her pain, and does her best to comfort her.(Light spoilers for Cindered Shadows.)
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 9
Kudos: 174





	Mourning

**Author's Note:**

> Alright boys, time for some angst!   
> I just wanted to write a short fic with Byleth exploring her feelings and Edelgard being there for her, no more and no less.
> 
> This also takes place after cindered shadows so it has a bit of spoilers for the dlc, but they're not really big or anything that will spoil the ending of the dlc. Still tagging it as spoilers tho, for people who don't want anything at all being spoiled for them.

The day was dark and gloomy, and it looked as if it was about to rain. Yet Edelgard didn’t care much.  
She made her way outside, and the courtyard of the monastery seemed practically empty.  
But she needed to find her, and she had a good idea of where she might be.  
Just as Edelgard walked past the graveyard, she glanced down the stairs leading to it. And surely enough, there she was, sitting down in front of a tombstone. Edelgard quietly made her way to her, trying her best not to disturb her, and stopping only once she was a couple of steps away from her. She didn’t notice her presence, as if she was transfixed in the tombstone. So Edelgard decided to softly call out for her;

“Hello, my teacher.”

Byleth seemed to be caught off guard, jumping slightly as she heard Edelgard’s voice. Yet she quickly composed herself, turning to her. She didn’t get up, staring up at Edelgard instead.

“Hello, Edelgard. Do you need something?”

“No” Edelgard quietly confessed, “I…wanted to see how you were feeling.”

“Oh.”

Silence hung over them for a moment, yet only for a moment.

“May I join you, my teacher? I understand if you don’t want company, of course.”

As Byleth nodded and replied that it was alright, Edelgard quietly thanked her before sitting down next to her, in front of the grave. The name ‘Sitri Eisner’ could be read, even if the letters engraved were worn out and somewhat difficult to understand. She glanced at Byleth, who stood quiet next to her. And that’s when she noticed that Byleth held a bouquet of white lilies. 

“Are those…for your mother?” Edelgard quietly asked, and Byleth nodded.

“I’ve been deciding if I should place them or not” Byleth started to explain, “she isn’t even buried here but…Lady Rhea won’t allow me inside the Holy Mausoleum without supervision, and I wanted to visit her alone. This tombstone was the closest thing I had. But…it’s not the same, I suppose.”

Edelgard saw Byleth clutch the bouquet, her hands gripping slightly harder. For a moment, Edelgard thought Byleth might cry. But her tears never came.

“I don’t even know if lilies were her favorite. I don’t know anything about her…my dad barely talked about her…I didn’t even know her name until we came to the monastery. I learned more about her with this incident than what I’ve learned about her my whole life and I…and I realized that I still don’t know anything. I don’t know how to feel, or what to do now.”

“Grief is…complicated, my teacher” Edelgard assured her, as she was reminded of her own family.

Edelgard opened her mouth to speak again, but she quickly shut it once she realized she didn’t know what to say. Byleth didn’t have an answer for her either, so they just stood together in silence. Edelgard looked up at the clouds above her, growing ever grey as rain seemed closer to falling down upon them. When she looked back at Byleth, she saw that she was staring up as well. But she didn’t seem to be staring at the clouds or thinking about rain.

“You have something else in your mind” Edelgard murmured, more as a statement rather than a question.

Byleth looked back at her, and somehow her stoic expression seemed to carry more emotion than Edelgard had ever sensed in her.

“The only thing that my dad used to tell me about my mother, was that she loved me deeply. He said she loved me so much, even before I was born. Everyone else thinks that’s sweet but I…I just think...how could she love me, if she never even got to know me? And I didn’t know her either, so I can’t say I loved her… Lady Rhea was so overcome with emotion once she saw my mother’s dead body, and everyone else was so concerned about me but I…I didn’t feel anything special as I saw her. As I saw my own dead mother for the first time…I didn’t feel anything.”

Byleth avoided Edelgard’s gaze, and Edelgard could sense that even if she wasn’t crying, Byleth’s voice was still hesitant, and her lips were trembling ever so slightly. Edelgard had never seen her so sad.

“Edelgard” Byleth called her, as Edelgard’s attention focused solely on her, “what if I’m…what if I’m a monster? What if I’m cold…and I won’t ever change? If I can’t love my own mother who died for me then I… I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. I thought that seeing her and hearing about her would change things, because I never felt anything more than curiosity and now that I’ve seen her, it’s still no different from a stranger. She gave her life for mine and I can’t even love her… does that make me a monster? An Ashen Demon? What if she regretted saving me? What if I didn’t deserve her?”

Edelgard moved closer to Byleth, gently placing a hand on top of hers.

“Byleth…I wish I had answers but…I don’t. I don’t know. I won’t lie to you and tell you that it’s a fact that your mother did love you or that you have to love her, because I don’t know either. The only thing I do know is that you’re one of the warmest people I know, in your own way. You care about people around you, and you try to do what you believe is right. You care about the people you do know, and you care about the people who are here, with you. And if you care about your mother this way, even if it’s not the love that is expected from you…I still think that counts for something. So I think that you're allowed to feel what you feel about her, in your own way.”

Nervously, Edelgard’s hand found Byleth’s. She tried to intertwine their fingers, and when Byleth did the same, she couldn’t help a smile as she held her hand. She looked over at Byleth again, and she was happy to see her softly smile back.

“Thank you, Edelgard.”

With that, Byleth finally decided to place the flowers on top of the grave, as they both stared at them.

“Can you stay with me here, for just a while longer?” Byleth asked her, and Edelgard was happy to accept.

“For as long as you need, my teacher.”

Still holding hands, Edelgard rested her head in Byleth’s shoulder. And Byleth couldn’t help reclining against her as well. They felt a few drops of rain fall on top of them, but neither cared much. They didn’t need to exchange words as they quietly embraced, silently comforting each other with the other’s presence.


End file.
